Jagan fear factor: Congress may seek solace in TRS company

HYDERABAD: Concerned over the political threat from Jaganmohan Reddy, the Congress high command is believed to be considering going forward on an issue that they have been stonewalling till now - the Telangana impasse.

Following the rout of the Congress in the Seemandhra region and the narrow victory margin for the TRS in Parkal in the recent assembly bypolls, the grand old party is dropping hints that it wants more than an alliance with the latter. Disclosing this to TOI, highly-places sources said a positive decision on the Telangana front is the only one with which the Congress can hope to remain a political force in the state before the 2014 elections. "The strategy is to regain the hold in the Telangana region by granting the separate state on the condition that the TRS should merge with the Congress. The party can then concentrate on rebuilding itself in the Seemandhra region where the threat from Jagan is formidable, as the recent bypolls showed," said the sources. But TRS, though seeking Telangana, knows the dilemma of the collapsing Congress in the state.

According to the sources, the Congress is upbeat on the issue of going forward on Telangana and the TRS merger. While such a formula is more in its interest, Congress leaders are claiming that it is the TRS that has sent the feelers. "The TRS has come forward with a proposal of merger. I have definite information from the Congress high command about the merger proposal," minor irrigation minister and Seemandhra leader T G Venkatesh told TOI.

Venkatesh, who had a series of meetings in New Delhi during the last two days with senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Vayalar Ravi and S Jaipal Reddy, said Telangana state was round the corner. "The Centre is inching towards Telangana and this is the outcome of the TRS merger proposal," he said.

According to him, except the Congress, all the other political parties are agreed on Telangana. Venkatesh, who has been raising the issue of the rights of Rayalaseema districts since 2000, has the apprehension of a midnight T-announcement as was done on December 6, 2009, by home minister P Chidambaram. "The Rayalaseema people should be informed of the decision well in advance," he said.

Party scion K T Rama Rao said: "Telangana has to happen and certainly will become a reality in the run up to the 2014 elections. This is our understanding." TRS senior leader T Harish Rao denied that the party has been in touch with the Congress leadership," he said. But in the same breath, Harish Rao added: "The political situation in the state has evolved to a level that the Congress can no longer dither on Telangana. Telangana should be created if Congress were to survive in Andhra Pradesh," Harish told TOI from Warangal.